The Quick-Change Artist - South of FifthCMYK
NxMB,2013-02-17,RE,001,Bs-4C,E1
4THE HUNT4 STREETSCAPES
Buildings consider their rear
One way to track
facades.
BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
downa house with
6GETTING STARTED
money-making
Finding energy savings at
potential.
home.
BY JOYCE COHEN
BY SUSAN STELLIN
OWNERSRENTERSFINANCINGDEALSSUNDAY, FEBRUARY17, 2013
MB
Sun City Its Not
SomeUpper West Siderscant
imaginea better place to live
out their lives.Their buildings
are adjustingand adapting.
By CONSTANCE ROSENBLUM
When the co-op conversion wave began in
New York City in the 1960s, singles and
young married couples flocked to the Up-
per West Side hoping to get a piece of the
action. Some of those people, now in their
70s, are still there, cemented in place by
apartments bought for a song or equally
treasured rent-stabilized units.
The kids have left, said Aaron Shmule-
witz, whose law firm, Belkin Burden Wenig
& Goldman, represents more than 250 of
the citys co-op and condo boards. The
dog has died. But these people stayed put.
As the neighborhoods population has
grayed, someapartment houses have
morphed into what social scientists call
NORCs naturally occurring retirement
communities. The most recent census esti-
mates indicatethat 22 percent of Upper
West Siders, or 46,000 people, are 60 or old-
er, compared with the citywide average of
17 percent. Attracted by convenient shop-
ping, abundant mass transit and a wealth
of cultural activities, many older residents
hopeto remain in their apartmentsthe
rest of their lives.
Most programs tailoredto this popula-
tion are found in public housing projects
and buildings likeMitchell-Lama develop-
ments, where the government helps keep
rents low. In many suchcomplexes, so-
called NORC programs financed with city
and state money provide services includ-
CONTINUED ON PAGE8
The walking group of Bloomingdale
Aging in Placedoesnt let snow
interfere with a constitutional in
Central Park.Inset: Claire Toise is
a member of the packedclassical
literature class at Lincoln Towers.
MARCUS YAM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; INSET, YANA PASKOVA FOR THE N
BIG DEAL
ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
The Quick-Change Artist
In a decade, South of Fifth has
Last year, a penthouse at one of two
what they envision will play out some-
Continuum towers soldfor $25 million,
day.
gone from rags to riches; it is
then the highest sale for an apartment in
Thats what happened in the South of
nowhome toMiami Beachs
Miami Beach. In late December,a pent-
Fifth Street neighborhood, where the city
house at the neighboring Icon tower sold
took on an ambitiousGerman real estate
most expensive real estate.
for just under $21 million, a record for a
investor in the struggle to redefine an area
bay-facing apartment in the city. A lower-
thatcriminals and castoffs had all but tak-
rise 50-unit development, One Ocean, has
High-end neighborhoods
en over.
MIAMI BEACH
yet to start construction, but has only
come and go, thoughfew swing from
Almost implausibly, South of Fifth has
three apartments that are not spoken for.
blighted status to the height of luxuryliv-
emerged as the most expensive section of
Todaythe areas streets are clean, the
ing in just one decade.
Miami Beach. A string of high-rise condos
vagrants are gone and the lower-lying Art
But in Miami Beach just about anything
along the water, which were at the center
Deco buildings the city fought to preserve
seems possible. There is no shortage ofof the struggle over the citys development
by establishing a historic district have
dreamers and visionaries, and men with15 years ago, are selling apartments for
DIANA ZALUCKY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
the tenacity to battle to the bitter end forrecord prices.
A view of the South of Fifthneighborhood in Miami Beach.
CONTINUED ON PAGE6